So… is this a cross-over? Or does this announcement mean something else?

I thought it was safe to assume either Robert Rodriguez or Rose McGowan would have departed the proposed Red Sonja film (for personal reasons you may not know about, though let’s not get into their private lives here). It also seemed likely that the film would collapse completely. Poor old director Douglas Aarniokoski, caught in the crossfire.

This new Conan casting is pretty much a final nail in this Sonja‘s coffin. According to Variety, McGowan’s role in the picture won’t be as a mail-bikini clad she devil with a sword but instead an “evil half-human/half-witch”. Her taking this role pretty much guarantees to me that all of that Comic-Con hype for Red Sonja a couple of years back was a complete waste time and energy.

It hasn’t been specified but I’m guessing this half-witch character might just be Salome from Robert E. Howard’s Conan story A Witch Shall Be Born, or at least a derivative. In that plot line, Salome is the bad-hearted twin sister of Queen Taramis. The witch overthrows her sibling and steals her identity to drive the kingdom into ruin. Or, on the other hand, there could be almost nothing in this new film that bears any resemblance to the original stories – at least that’s what some are fearing.

I guess we can now start looking forward to the future again now, towards a far off Red Sonja from as-yet unknown creators and with a so-far unnamed star. I’m assuming producer Joe Gatta is still wanting to take the project forward in some fashion, and I expect how quickly he moves will be determined by the relative success or failure of the Conan movie.